BHUBANESWAR: Now, Port Blair is just an hour and half away from Bhubaneswar. National carrier Air India is all set to re-introduce its service to the Andaman Islands beginning Sunday. This will be the first direct flight to Port Blair from the State Capital bringing cheer to tourists as other airlines charge too much and fly via Kolkata. The Delhi-Bhubaneswar-Port Blair flight will operate on all days of the week, barring Saturday. The fliers will have the advantage of flexi-fair which means someone booking well in advance may well get to travel dirt-cheap. The national carrier will fly a modern Jet aircraft with an average capacity of 70 passengers. The flight service had started on October 3 from Delhi to Port Blair with Bhubaneswar being a technical stop-over (for fuelling purposes). However, the AI management soon realised that the passenger traffic between Delhi and Port Blair was not very encouraging with just about two dozen passengers flying to the Union Territory. Since Bhubaneswar was being used as a halt, the carrier decided to tap the potential from the State. The flight will start from Delhi at 5.20 am and reach Bhubaneswar at 7.30 am and leave for Port Blair at 8 am. On the return route, it will depart Port Blair at 10.05 am and arrive here at 11.40 am. It will leave for Delhi at 12.10 pm and reach there at 2.20 pm. This new service will also give Delhi-bound passengers an additional option since it is a morning flight. At present, there is only one AI flight between Bhubaneswar and Delhi. Reliable sources said AI is set for more. Beginning October 30, another flight will operate between Delhi and Bhubaneswar in the afternoon. Once the third Delhi flight starts operating, AI will have six flights operating from Orissa; flights to Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata being the other three. The Bhubaneswar-Kolkata-Bhubaneswar flight, which re-started last month, has received overwhelming response, AI source said and added every day it gets bookings for 100 and more passengers.“The fact that Kingfisher Red will go out of operation soon, AI has made a strategic move to tap the sector,” sources revealed. The national carrier is strongly contemplating to start its service to Hyderabad and Bangalore from Bhubaneswar very soon.
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